Lavender Morning
by Neko-Koorime
Summary: Sakura's little sis is halfway to being a prodigy. But Miko is missing key elements of being a shinobi. Mainly, killer instinct. When snatched by Itachi...well...You'll have to read to find out! Pairings fairly open, reader friendly. Suggestions welcome.
1. Chapter 1

The door opened, just as the students were getting ready to leave. A girl suspiciously familiar to most of them, but with radical lavender locks that defied their expectations slipped in. She had eyes only for the teacher as she slipped in. The other students stopped looking at her as soon as they remembered who it was, and remembered who it wasn't.

"Sir, the Hokage sent me in. He said… for you to place me in one of the groups." He looked perturbed for a moment. After all, this wasn't a common occurrence.

"Our groups are all even at the moment, I'm afraid-"

"The Hokage said that a group of four was permissible in my case…" Pale blue eyes glimmered forth from her pale skin. She was young, but her eyes…they were serious at the moment. There seemed to be something hiding behind them. Something that was lurking there, something positive, yet stifled. A serious modesty, but a seriousness that portrayed her in such a way that her modesty was placed as a barrier.

Iruka gave the room another glance. The jounins were in the back of the room, and all four had eyes on the girl. She was slight of frame, dressed in dark blue, with icy blue trim, icy blue that just about matched her eyes. Yet there was little about her eyes that was truly icy.

"Groups? Who is willing to accept a 4th member?"

There were a few moments left in silence before the silver haired one stepped forward. She knew his name- her sister rarely shut up about him. This wasn't a good sign. Kurenai would have been preferable.

"I'll take her."

When she hesitated but a moment, Iruka gave her a shove, which she barely managed to turn into a graceful almost planned step. She stepped up to Kakashi and gave a little bow. "Sensei Kakashi…"

"You're the one the Hokage is moving up early?"

"Yes…"

"Name?"

The girl looked up, brushing lavender hair out of her eyes briskly, blue eyes on him as she spoke softly. "Sumiko Haruna."

He quirked an eyebrow, coming to the conclusion she had earlier, the instant she saw him. "This…will be interesting."

That was all he had to say…Miko however knew she had a challenge ahead of her. Proving to jounin, genin, chuunin, and Hokage alike that she could handle this. That her technique was strong enough to be useful in combat. But she had more to prove than that.

"Sasuke, Naruto, break it up. I've got someone I'd like you two to meet. I trust Sakura doesn't need an introduction."

Sasuke and Naruto turned as if on cue, stopping the fight they'd been i nthe middle of. As per normal, arguing. They recognized her, that showed. They likely didn't have a name for her fair face, and half emotionless expression. Of course, Sakura looked up as well. She was too stunned to steal Kakashi's thunder however.

"Sumiko Haruna is going to be joining our group."

The girl looked partially embarrassed, but mostly under control. However, her sister was much less calm. "What? But she's too young! She's a whole year younger!"

"The Hokage has seen fit for her to move up." No way to really contest that now was there? Sakura still didn't look too happy, but Naruto promptly distracter Miko from focusing on her sister's feelings. "So, you're Sakura's little sister huh?"

Finally, the girl seemed to be lightening up. She gave him a nod and a soft smile. "Yes. Miko."

"Naruto. And the brooding boy over there is-"

"Sasuke."

Her eyes meant to look at him, without being intrusive, but somehow, they're eyes met. She was a sensitive person. And just meeting his eyes, she could see a lurking pain there, one that Sakura had perhaps mentioned once or twice in her fan like ravings. But one thing Sakura would never understand was this: Blind devotion cannot heal all things- and what Miko saw in his eyes after simply a moment was one of those things. But try telling Sakura that…

She gave him a nod, not showing any outward signs of emotion to her sister. If her sister suddenly got the idea she was competition in any way, bad things would happen.

"So, Miko." Kakashi broke the lying silence. "Show us your best jutsu. Let us have a feel for your strength…s…" blue eyes looked startled, but he received a nod.

"Al…right…"

She took a step back from the group, and closed her eyes, her fingers wove the first two signs slowly, and there was a chirping noise heard, as she gained in speed, there was more chirping. Her hands moved through the last three signs quicker than she could reliably count on. Quicker than she could process in her mind. She relied on instinct to finish them for her. The chirping had combined to form a melody, and little dots of fire began to appear.

"FIRE SPARROW PHOENIX GUARD FADE TECHNIQUE"

The dots of fire formed themselves into birdlike shapes, flying a lap or so around the area before nosediving to the ground in front of their summoner. The droplets combined to form a flame that rose from the ground in the shape of a large tropical and extravagant bird. A phoenix stood there, waving blazing wings as a defense to protect her from some oncoming attack. Miko let the jutsu fall. While she was more than a little tired, seeing the faces of the audience she'd performed for gave her the strength to stand a little bit longer. Even Kakashi looked openly amused.

"Animal Jutsus…without an animal companion."

"Yes sir. I form them out of the elements using a combination of Genjutsu and Ninjutsu. Ninjutsu forms the fire, and Genjutsu shapes it for me. The technique is much more effective than a stand alone illusion."

Sakura couldn't seem to believe her younger sister had done that, while Naruto seemed excited, and Sasuke merely looked amused. When Miko looked away, she no longer saw that Sasuke was still looking at her, studying her. How could an academy student come up with her own jutsu?

In truth, Miko simply had a lot of time and inspiration. Some of that she owed to people. The rest she owed to the animals and the mythology.

The group dispersed after that, for a short break. While Miko was still endeavoring to stand straight and still, it wasn't easy. Energy had been drained through that technique, and the little bit of training they'd done afterwards. For all her strong points, she didn't have a strong body composition, that was for sure.

Just as she felt she was going to collapse if she didn't sit down soon, two pairs of hands pushed her onto a bench, firmly. And because of her current weak state, there was nothing she could do about it but sit. As she looked up, searching for the identity of her rough saviour (After all, she might have pushed herself further had they not intervened, and they hadn't needed to push her down…) she was a bit shocked to find it Sasuke. He didn't say anything as he looked at her before coming around and sitting on the bench she was on. There were a few more moments of silence before he spoke.

"You exhausted yourself. Maybe not entirely, but you were definitely shaky. We hardly did anything."

Miko aimed her head at the dirt speckled ground. "I showed off a little too much. I normally don't combine those two jutsus…" At his funny look she paused to explain. "They are two separate techniques- Fire Sparrow Technique, and Phoenix Guard Technique. By adding the word fade I combined the jutsus. That is more draining than they'd be separately."

He nodded, understanding, but clearly not approving of it. Such a shameful waste of energy. She knew that. But still, she sighed. That was how she worked. She gave her all, all the time, and it often tired her out.

"You need to build endurance."

"And stamina. I know."

Silence fell again. She knew why he withdrew into silence like this. She might not know exactly what the problem was, but she knew he'd been hurt somehow. The fire in his eyes was so strong, yet dormant. He had an aching passion, and it was tearing him up. He dwelled on it far to often to be free from it's influence. It took her a while, but eventually she spoke.

"You hide a pain, don't you? A scar, a challenge, a quest… I can see it in your eyes. I'm not going to pry about it Sasuke, really. I just wanted to let you know…. If you need to talk to someone…I'm a good listener."

He seemed shocked, but she gave him a quaint smile and slipped off the bench and disappeared down the street.

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**_You guys have anything you want to ask, anything you want to add? Anything in particular you'd like to see?_**


	2. Chapter 2

**_I hate to beg, but if you're reading this, is it too much to ask for a twenty seconds of review? Especially if you put it on your favorites list and you have to bring it up anywayz? Anyway, I suppose I'd like to mention that I remember stories more often when I get reviews...I also like to talk back to reviewers..._**

It took weeks before Sasuke approached her again. During training they were perfectly pleasant( well Miko was) and she didn't bring up his pain again. They didn't fight or argue, something she couldn't say about the rest of the groups relations with him. Naruto and him reeked of bickering best friends, and Sakura seemed to annoy him, and she in turn was simply adoring.

Idly, she wondered why the girls insisted on being so attached to him, openly admiring him. He clearly didn't like it. While she liked his strength, his level headedness, and his frank honesty, she didn't fawn over him on sight. Perhaps, that was because her relationship with her sister was already sketchy. Sakura didn't like being bested. And offending the other fan girls…that was just asking to be miserable. Besides. He didn't like that attention.

Training for the day was almost over when Naruto bungled something for the umpteenth time that day. His frustration escaped as a string of dirty language. Miko gasped, and hurried performed a group of hand symbols. The water nearby bubbled, and Miko grinned, as she tossed a few flakes into it. With one more hand symbol…

"SOAP BUNNY!"

The water jumped up in the form of a lively hair and quickly sprang toward Naruto. A few leaping bounds brought it close, but the final bound put itself right in his mouth. Miko collapsed into giggles, as did her sister as the bunny washed out his mouth. And, indeed, all of him while he was at it, in and under clothes. Even Sasuke gave half a smile while watching.

"What was that, Miko?" Naruto asked spitting, and trying to catch the bunny while it hopped back into the water and became nothing but bubbles.

"What do you think? It was a bunny of soap and water. You really need to watch your tongue. Not my fault it thought you needed to wash your body too.."

Naruto sniffed his sleeve, then the other one. He didn't seem to be all that pleased with it. "What on earth is that smell?" Miko checked her pocket.

"Um…Lavender. Sorry, it makes sense…for me too.." And, he was gone, presumably to get that particular smell off of him.

"I do hope he doesn't go roll in the mud…"

Now it was over, and almost every muscle in her body was sore. Not to mention she was rather sticky with sweat, and could use a nice long drink. She slipped off to the edge of a body of water, sinking her head in the cold water and bringing it up rapidly, sending water flying in plenty of directions .As she took a seat on a rock and slipped off her shoes, she saw a shadow in the trees. She reached to the string around her neck, which supported a single kunai. A tug of the string and it'd be free, and flying toward the possible danger in the trees.

It wasn't necessary. The shadow came out, revealing its identity to be Sasuke. She released the kunai and leaned in toward the water again to get her hair a little more wet. She did not speak, instead, she let him find a spot on a fallen tree branch. (Naruto had knocked it down earlier with an over zealous taijutsu) the water wrung out from her hair fell in quick droplets before Sasuke finally began to speak. In a soft voice, somewhat hesitant, he talked, spilling what must have been that ache he was hiding. He told his tale looking out over the water, telling of the treachery of his brother in killing his parents, and all the rest of his clan. He told, to the quiet Miko, of the struggle to figure out why his brother spared him, and the frustration, anger, and hatred that fueled his drive to excellence. When he finished, Miko paused, finishing off the braid she had worked her hair into, tying it off in that same sympathetic silence.

With that task complete, she turned understanding gentle blue eyes onto him. Undemanding condolences were portrayed plainly from the light that danced in there. She was a highly emotional person, and simply knowing that he chose to confide in her caused her to become even more so. She didn't cry, but it showed, clear on her face she felt his pain. And, that she was fairly close to crying. She moved next to him, and rested a hand on his shoulder. If she wasn't afraid he would find hugging a sign of pity, she would have done that.

He didn't want pity. She wasn't sure what he wanted. But…well, sympathy and pity were different things. She let her arm move into half of a hug, quietly consoling him, hopefully. She sat next to him now, staying in that position, watching the water flow beneath their feet. When she finally spoke…

"Life…doesn't always make sense. It isn't always fair either. But, you are strong. You will make it through this, just as you have been."

She paused for a moment. "Thank you for confiding in me. I'm here, anytime you want to talk about it. I'm always accessible, if you need to vent, or simply talk to someone, about anything. I'm most certainly here if you want to get away from my sister and the fan club. I'm not going to go berserk next time I see you, or any time I see you. But I'll be here."

She gave a quiet nod and stood, ready to leave. Sasuke said nothing until she took a step forward to leave. He pulled her back down, a firm grasp on her elbow was used to do that. After a while, it slid down to her wrist and stayed there. Though Miko blushed a little bit, she said nothing otherwise. Until darkness began to close in around them, they stayed like that, in stony silence, but it wasn't that stony was it? Brooding, and thoughtful, but not stony.

Feelings went under evaluation during this quiet. Both were comfortable at the moment, and while Miko was trying to figure him out, Sasuke was trying to figure himself out. Why did he come to her, and why did he keep her from leaving? While he thought, his hand slipped down into hers, causing the slight blush on her cheeks to grow brighter. It had to be how she treated him. She gave him his space, she respected him, and she didn't fawn. Because she didn't seek him out, it made him seek her out.

As she stood up to try to leave again, hearing her name called, she found herself yanked back down, and against him. Not entirely against him, but enough that their lips met. Immediately, Miko knew she had turned scarlet, and one sincere thought rang true through her head.

Please don't let anyone find us…

It wasn't a long meeting, but it was a meeting nonetheless, and she still let herself go for a small amount of time, letting emotions flow from both sides. When the gentle embrace finally ended, both disappeared from the site with all the grace of the ninjas they were, and in opposite directions, blushing at least a little bit from their tiny splurge.

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**_Now, I added a bit of Sasuke luff in here, but the thing about this story, is it's mostly for fun. I have a plot, but if there are any pairings you guys would like to see, be sure to let me know before I put up the next chapter... Or you'll miss your chance!_**


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